


Their Normal

by DhampirsDrinkEspresso



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adoption, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, But Weird is Their Normal, Child Adoption, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dogs, Emotional Overwhelm, Engagement, F/F, F/M, M/M, Marriage, Mention of Rose's Pregnancy, Panic, Panic Attacks, Pets, Platonic Bedsharing, Platonic Cuddling, Pregnancy, Present Tense, Roommates, Rose Tico has Thoughts on Toxic Masculinity, Sleeping in a Big Puppy Pile, Soft Ben Solo, Tense Shifts, This is weird, Touch-Starved, Well Mostly Present Tense, rescue pets, they have a weird friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26532526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DhampirsDrinkEspresso/pseuds/DhampirsDrinkEspresso
Summary: Ben Solo's roommates are a cuddly, touchy-feely bunch of women a decade younger than him. It's all perfectly innocent...mostly...Rose is his best friend, Kaydel is like a sister, but Rey is everything.Rey though…it’s best when Rey’s there, when she comes home late and maybe a tiny bit tipsy and she crawls in on the other side of Rose, throwing an arm and leg across the shorter woman and letting her hand and foot come to rest on Ben, so they are holding Rose cuddled between them. When morning comes, she blinks up at him from Rose’s other side as the sun breaks through the slightest gap in the curtains. She smiles at him then, when the soft light is just barely enough that she can see his eyes are open, and her eyes are soft and sweet and sleepy, and he stays in bed a little longer than usual.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Kaydel Ko Connix/Jannah, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 23
Kudos: 108





	1. Daddy's Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is...y'all, I'm not even sure what this is, but it wouldn't leave me alone. It's weird and oddly fluffy and mostly platonic no matter what Poe thinks.

It’s not unusual, waking up with one (or more) of the girls in his bed.

Rose likes to cuddle, almost can’t sleep without someone next to her. She’s tried pillows, weighted blankets, stuffed animals. She complains it’s not the same. They don’t talk about it, but he knows it’s because of losing Paige. The Tico sisters had shared a bed until Rose was ten and Paige was twelve. After the accident, Rose couldn’t sleep alone anymore, and most often she just crawls in with Rey, but sometimes Rey works late or stays at the library until closing, and Ben’s bed is bigger anyway.

Kaydel gets cold—really cold—often waking up with her teeth chattering despite the pile of blankets, the flannel pajamas, and at least two pairs of socks. He worries it’s medical, but she always insists it’s been that way her entire life. She admits she has a tendency to be anemic, and he knows sometimes she forgets to eat, and then her blood sugar and blood pressure drop a bit.

Ben is warm, they all say he radiates heat, and he doesn’t mind so much, waking up with Rose tucked under his arm and Kaydel pressed against his back, forehead between his shoulder blades and thighs molded to his. Sometimes she throws an arm over his waist, others she hugs a pillow or extra blanket close to her. When she’s really cold, she scoots down until her feet are even with his, tucked in at the foot of the bed, with her head completely under the covers and her face pressed against the small of his back. He’s used to it now, no longer finding it odd or uncomfortable. It’s just normal. Just Kaydel.

Rey though…it’s best when Rey’s there, when she comes home late and maybe a tiny bit tipsy and she crawls in on the other side of Rose, throwing an arm and leg across the shorter woman and letting her hand and foot come to rest on Ben, so they are holding Rose cuddled between them. When morning comes, she blinks up at him from Rose’s other side as the sun breaks through the slightest gap in the curtains. She smiles at him then, when the soft light is just barely enough that she can see his eyes are open, and her eyes are soft and sweet and sleepy, and he stays in bed a little longer than usual.

It wasn’t always this way. They tumbled into his life right as everything started to fall apart.

Rey had just started working with his father, and she witnessed a couple of the usual ‘Solo menfolk moments’ (Kaydel’s term) and rather than taking sides she let them _both_ have it. She’d stood there, the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen, with a wrench in her hand, wearing ridiculously oversized coveralls and axle grease smeared down the side of her face, while she cursed like a sailor. His father had grumbled back at her and stormed out before she’d gone off in a huff herself, muttering about how his mother was right and all Solo men were bloody idiots.

He’d been very much in awe and at least a little bit in love with her before he even found out her name.

Then Rose bounced into his reality, bright and bubbly and just as feisty as Rey. He’d instantly understood why the two of them were friends, and before he even realized it was happening Rose Tico was his best friend in the world.

She didn’t actually give him a choice about it.

Kaydel was Rose and Rey’s roommate, along with their friend Finn. When Finn moved in with his fiancé Poe, the girls suddenly found themselves unable to pay the rent without him, not to mention the utilities or groceries.

Somehow when Rose mentioned it, and commented that Rey was looking at dropping out of school so she could cut expenses and pick up another job, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to say, “So move in with me, then. I have the room.”

And he did.

They’d been there only weeks when the news came about Paige’s accident. Then something happened with Rey’s scholarship and she was suddenly left without any way to pay for classes, not to mention receiving a bill for tuition, backdated from the beginning of the semester. Kaydel caught her boyfriend cheating…in _her_ car.

And Ben…Ben got an ultimatum at work.

Before his girls tumbled in and sent his world spinning, there would have been no question, no hesitation on his part. But now, well suddenly Ben Solo had people to care about, and they cared about him in return, and somehow that made him maybe care more about other people too…at least in relation to how the girls would feel about his actions and their impact on the lives of people none of them would ever meet.

He quit, and in rather spectacular fashion (as confirmed by Rey, who had come by to pick up his spare key so she could start moving boxes before work).

He inherited the house from his grandfather. It’s small as far as his family’s standards, but five bedrooms (including not one but two master suites), three and a half bathrooms, and separate dining, living, family, and game rooms is more than one person (or family of less than five) could ever possibly need. Not to mention the studio apartment above the garage.

It’s always seemed too big, too quiet…lonely.

Ben has always believed it suited him, a reflection of himself, and that it was what he needed.

Now there’s constant noise, movement, _life_ , and he realizes he was wrong.

The touching starts innocently, a friendly pat on the shoulder, a hand on his back as one of them passes behind him in the kitchen or ducks under his arm to get to something in the utility room. He flinches, jumps, sometimes makes a sound that Rose swears is a yelp and his only argument is to specify it’s a manly one.

Rose says he’s touch starved, goes into a speech about skin hunger in modern society and toxic masculinity and Victorian prudism. She will go on to do this at least once every week or so, and she’s probably right.

After Rose’s initial speech, there is a brief discussion about boundaries and consent and then hugging before they leave for the day or after they come home becomes the norm. There are cuddle piles on the couch for movie night, backrubs around the kitchen table and four spoons in a carton of ice cream when someone has had a hard day. Sometimes they pile onto the sectional in the living room and just sort of pet each other—literally, the slide of a hand over an arm, or playing with one another’s hair. It’s comforting. Relaxing. Eventually they start joking about “social grooming time” but Rey points out it’s not inaccurate. Rose starts in about platonic intimacy and security and group dynamics and they let her talk even though none of them really understand what she’s saying. The bedsharing is just a logical next step.

He doesn’t think it’s weird until Poe and Finn come for a visit. They’re all tipsy when Ben comes in the door after a day balancing the books (or attempting to) at his father’s shop. It’s Kaydel who says it, the thing that started as a joke, causing Poe to spit a mouthful of wine onto the rug (that’s going to stain).

“Daddy’s home!”

All three women cheer and surround him in a bouncy, vibrant group hug. Ben smiles, maybe even laughs. He can’t frown or scowl when they’re like this. “How are my girls?”

They all talk at once, and he has no idea what any of them say, but they each step back and wait for individual hugs before returning to the living room.

Finn and Poe are still staring when Ben slips his shoes off and drops his computer bag in a chair near the door. Rose ducks into the kitchen and comes back with a beer, handing it over before plopping down beside Kaydel. Rey fidgets beside him. Nervous. She licks her lips and her eyes dart from Ben and over to Finn and Poe as she wrings her hands. “Can I…I need another, please?” Of the three of them, Rey rarely asks for another hug. In fact, he can only remember once. Ben holds an arm out, tucking her into his side and wondering what’s wrong with Finn and Poe as they stare and make choking noises.

Rose is smug as she looks at them. “Told you so.”

That seems to snap the pair out of whatever trance they were in, and Finn shakes his head before lowering himself into a nearby armchair. Poe shakes his head too, then glares at Ben before turning back to Rose. “I don’t care what you say, _this_ isn’t normal.”

“Oh, fuck off, Poe, what is _normal_ anyway?”

Okay, so Rose is drunker than he thought…and apparently quite pissed off.

Rey is huddling against him, trembling, and he’s getting worried. Something really bad must have happened before he got home. He puts the beer down on a coaster and pulls her from his side to stand in front of him, where he can wrap both arms around her as he returns Poe’s glare over her head. Ben still doesn’t know what’s happening, but he’s pretty sure it’s Poe’s fault.

Rey buries her face in his chest, and he realizes she’s actually crying, and he’s torn between the need to comfort her and the need to destroy whatever ( _whomever_ ) has hurt her. She lets out a little sniffle and that decides him. He walks her into the hallway, and when she stumbles, he just picks her up, not really thinking about it, and she cries harder. He puts her down on his bed and she clings to him, dragging him down and squirming until she’s practically burrowed under him.

“Uh, Rey, are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Did I do something?”

“NOOOOOOO!”

“Was it Finn?”

“No, no, not Finn.” She sniffled.

“So, Poe, then?”

“Yeeeeesssssss.” Her wail trails off into a whimper and a series of hiccups.

He waits until she catches her breath. “What did he do, Rey?”

“He said…he said…he said you were sick, and we were all stupid to trust you because you’re not a nice man.”

“Well, he’s not wrong about that part.” She pinches him—hard. “Ow! Stop that!”

“You stop! You’re nice to me, and to Rose and Kaydel.”

“Eh, the three of you didn’t really give me a choice. Usually I’m not nice.”

He can almost feel her eyes rolling at him. “Well, I know _that_ but it doesn’t mean…it’s not wrong, the touching and the cuddling and all. It’s not _weird._ ”

“It might be a little weird.”

She smacks his chest before burying her face against him again. “I don’t care.”

“And neither do I.”

“But Poe said…”

“What did he say, Rey?”

“He said you don’t really care about us, that you’re just using us because we’re young and naïve.” She scoffs. “ _Naïve_ , Ben. Kaydel and Rose and ME.”

He can’t hold back a scoff of his own. Yeah, no. That’s not a word he would use for anyone who lives in his house. “Well he’s wrong. I do care. Rose is my best friend. Kaydel is…she’s like the annoying little sister I always denied wanting.”

“What about me?”

“You’re…Rey,” he says helplessly, and she stiffens, tries to pull away. “No, don’t…it’s not…”

“It’s okay,” she whispers. “I know it’s hard to l…to like me. I’m a nobody and I push everyone away. But you let me stay when I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I know it’s not the same, as with Rose and Kaydel.”

He tucks her in close to him again, his chin against the top of her head. He’s fairly sure he can’t look at her and do this. “You’re right, it’s not the same, but I _do_ care about you, Rey,” he says softly, “probably more than I should. Rose and Kaydel, it’s easy with them, because it really is innocent, but you… everything is always more with you.”

He realizes he probably shouldn’t be holding her down while basically admitting he’s obsessed with her and he lets her go, rolling away and sitting up on the edge of the bed. He’s a monster. Poe’s right. “Every time I touch you, Rey, I’m afraid I’ll never be able to stop. It’s…I know I’m a monster.”

He’s panting now, gasping for air as his heart races. What did he do? What the hell did he just do?

He jerks when she wraps her arms around him, presses against his back, whispering soft words he can’t quite understand.

_Breathe. Breathe with me, Ben._

Oh.

He’s gotten so used to it now, to being touched, that it’s like a switch is flipped and the panic starts to recede. His heart is still racing, and his head is all fuzzy, but his breathing is slowing and he’s not quite so desperate for escape. Eventually he relaxes into her touch, and he thinks he’s not the only one surprised when he doesn’t pull away. He does turn though, slowly, and she’s still on her knees, arms around his shoulders. Her face is puffy and tear-streaked, eyes red-rimmed and swollen, and he can’t seem to look away. She’s beautiful. He wonders if she knows. He should ask, it seems important that he ask her. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

There’s a little intake of breath, an almost-gasp, and her eyes are watering again, and when she kisses him, he’s quite certain he’s dying, he must be, because it’s all just too much.

He’s not sure which of them moves first, but his arms are around her and she’s in his lap and he can taste her tears and he still wants to kill Poe but he’d have to stop kissing Rey and that is just _not happening_ and—

“Yes, finally!” echoes from the doorway.

Rose. Because of course it’s Rose.

“About time,” Kaydel shouts, grinning maniacally over Rose’s shoulder.

Then the two of them are in the room and climbing onto the bed and…are they actually tickling him? Yes, they really are. And there are hugs and cheek kisses and eventually they all collapse into a giant puppy pile. It’s close to the way they sleep only now Rey is in the middle with Rose on her other side and the cuddles with Rose and Kaydel are still as platonic as ever but Rey presses in closer than she ever has, lets her hands wander farther than she ever has, and it’s not weird at all…

Okay, maybe it _is_ a _little_ weird.

But it’s home. It’s family.

It’s _their_ normal.


	2. Shifting Boundaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time passes, and the group/family dynamic changes.
> 
> _Honestly, Ben misses them at night, and he’s maybe not sleeping enough, either. He’s oddly cold without Kaydel at his back, and without her weight there he often jerks awake from dreams of falling. He misses the little puffing breaths Rose takes when she sleeps—almost like she’s purring in her sleep. He doesn’t mention it, though, doesn’t want to be greedy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags updated. Not where I expected this to go, but then I also thought it was just a one shot so... Anyway, look those over. There will be engagements, marriages, pregnancy, and adoption (pet adoptions in one household, child adoptions in another).

Things change, after he and Rey “finally get their heads out of their asses,” (thanks, Kaydel).

Rey doesn’t hesitate to crawl into his bed after a long day, but Rose and Kaydel stop coming in at night. It’s fine, at first, appreciated, even. Ben and Rey don’t _do_ anything more than kissing right away, but they enjoy being in their own little bubble of bliss.

Then Rose starts having nightmares, and Kaydel can’t sleep. The two of them curl up in one of the other rooms (usually Rey’s, oddly enough—apparently she has the better mattress topper), and it’s better but there are dark circles under Kaydel’s eyes, and Rose is jumpy and distracted.

Honestly, Ben misses them at night, and he’s maybe not sleeping enough, either. He’s oddly cold without Kaydel at his back, and without her weight there he often jerks awake from dreams of falling. He misses the little puffing breaths Rose takes when she sleeps—almost like she’s purring in her sleep. He doesn’t mention it, though, doesn’t want to be greedy.

Doesn’t want to hurt Rey.

What if she thinks it’s about more than just sleeping?

They all start staying up too late, piled on the couch and pretending to watch whatever show they’ve decided to binge.

It’s Rey who breaks first.

“This is bloody stupid! None of us have slept properly in weeks. Come on.” She grabs Kaydel’s hand in one of her own, reaching out for Rose with the other. Without another word, Rey drags them down the hall to Ben’s bedroom. He shakes his head and shuts off the television and lights, checks the locks and the alarm system. By the time he makes it into the bedroom, the three of them are snuggled up in the center of the bed, Rey in the middle. She’s absently playing with Rose’s hair and rubbing one of Kaydel’s hands as if trying to warm her fingers. He watches for a moment, realizing he’s already more relaxed than he has been at bedtime in quite a while.

They shift around in the bed, making room for Ben between Rey and Kaydel and he crawls in without hesitation. He doesn’t hold back the happy sigh as he turns onto his side, draping an arm over Rey _and_ Rose and Kaydel settles in at his back.

It’s unusual for Ben to be the first to go to sleep, but it happens tonight.

They all wake up sometime after nine Saturday morning. No one gets up. They aren’t ready. Rey and Rose will have to be at work in the afternoon, and Ben needs to get some things done for clients now that he’s working for himself. Kaydel’s the only one with the whole day free.

But none of them want to disturb the peace they’ve reclaimed. Not yet.

They finally talk about it, gathered at the kitchen table Sunday night, and it’s decided they’ll just set new boundaries. If the door is closed, Kaydel and Rose will sleep elsewhere. Open, they’re welcome to come in as usual.

It works, for a while.

There’s even a night where an old girlfriend comes by, helps herself to the extra key (he’d forgotten she knew about that). He hasn’t seen her in well over a year, and when he wakes up, she is framed there in the doorway, gaping at the pile of bodies in his bed. The girls woke first, all of them sitting up and glaring at her.

“As you can see, he doesn’t need you,” Rose says, as Rey leans down and snuggles back into his arms, throwing a leg over his hip.

“No more room, go away,” she mutters.

Kaydel can’t resist adding her own comment, not after the other two have. She has an evil glint in her eye, and he suspects he knows what’s coming before she even says it. “Daddy’s girls can look out for him, we don’t need your help.”

Yep, he was right.

He laughs so hard he cries as the woman storms out of the house. She doesn’t come back, and he remembers to retrieve any and all extra keys the next day.

Maybe they’ll just change the locks completely.

Kaydel meets Jannah and things change again.

Jannah is warm too, and as they grow closer, Ben has to get used to sleeping without Kaydel at his back. It’s hard, but she’s happy, and that’s worth it.

The cuddle piles on the couch still happen, and when Jannah is there, she joins in, fitting seamlessly into their group dynamic.

One night there are too many margaritas, and then that devolves into doing shots because “there’s not that much tequila left anyway, and we have all these limes.”

Rose is a bad influence.

There is a lot of giggling (some of it may even be from Ben himself, but if that’s true the information will never leave this room) as they all tumble onto his bed and confirm that, although four people cuddled on their sides can sleep comfortably, adding a fifth is too much. They make it work, somehow, and there is much debate the next morning over which of them is the most hungover (eventually Rose gets to claim that one) and who might actually be dead (Rey, she’s sure of it, she says so herself…several times).

The next time Poe and Finn visit, Jannah is there too, and she’s the one who manages to convince them somehow that just because it’s different, that doesn’t make it wrong. They even hover on the edge of the couch cuddle pile, but they sleep in one of the guest rooms.

Jannah and Kaydel don’t sleep elsewhere, as if to make their point.

It’s another night of not quite enough room and everyone but Kaydel kicking off the blankets and a lot of laughter in the morning when Rose and Jannah manage to fall off their respective sides.

Eventually Kaydel moves in with Jannah, and they still visit but it’s not the same.

Ben makes the mistake of introducing the girls to some former co-workers.

Phasma eyes Kaydel with appreciation before Jannah steps closer, clearly staking her claim. How those two end up friends is anyone’s guess, but when Phasma marries another former coworker, it’s Jannah she asks to stand up with her.

Even more disturbing is Hux and his apparent fascination with all things Rose. Ben wants to protest, and he pays careful attention, but the other man is…smitten. He’s completely devoted to Rose from day one, with that same reserved fire and determination he always seemed to have for the things he considered most important.

Within a handful of months, the house is too empty again, the silence echoing around the two of them, just Ben and Rey.

Rey decides they need a dog. He resists, at first, but it’s a good idea. They go to a rescue, hoping to find the right one.

They come home with three.

The Red Husky, Black Lab, and White Pit mix are all just big babies, and they like to cuddle too.

Ben and Rey agreed they wouldn’t be allowed on the furniture, but when BB puts her paws on his lap and nuzzles her white face against him and wags her tail, he can’t tell her no, and he doesn’t stop her from crawling onto the sofa and sprawling half-across his lap.

Not wanting to be left out, Chewie leaps up on the other side, shedding enough fur to make another Husky in the process. Vader just plops on top of Ben’s feet with a huff, tongue lolling out happily as he rests his head on Ben’s knee for ear scratches.

Rey laughs when she comes home and finds them, snapping a picture she immediately sends to Rose and Kaydel. He draws the line at letting her post it anywhere…for now.

The dogs manage to whine pitifully enough to make their way into the bedroom too, and having one at his back, another at his feet, and the third snuggled in beside Rey is…well, it’s almost as good as a cuddle pile of actual humans.

Hotter though. And Rose and Kaydel generally didn’t step on him at three in the morning.

Rose and Hux are the first to make it official, engaged and married within a year, expecting before the end of the next.

Jannah and Kaydel talk about it, hint around, and then pretend the conversation never happened, at least until the next time someone brings it up. It’s not a surprise when they elope. The surprise comes when they return from their honeymoon with the news that they are starting the adoption process and hoping to be able to adopt slightly older children.

Rey cries and can’t tell anyone why, but they all suspect it’s grief no one did that for her, coupled with relief that these children will have two of the best moms ever.

When they ask if Ben will write a reference letter it’s his turn to get teary, and he tries to excuse himself until he is composed again, but they don’t let him, and he ends up on the couch under three women and three (large, heavy) dogs. The girls let him cry. The dogs insist on licking the tears which is…disgusting, really, but someone starts laughing and then they all are and it’s good.

He knows he wants to ask her, knows this is forever, but what if it’s not what Rey wants? They’ve talked about marriage, of course they have, with their friends—their family—all making the decision to take that step, but he still doesn’t know how she actually feels about it.

His mother has offered family rings—the ones proudly worn by her birth mother, her adoptive mother, and even her own. He always makes excuses, mumbles about being not there yet while she affectionately tells him he’s an idiot in denial.

He sees it one day, just by chance, and it’s perfect. He has to buy it, Rey needs to _have_ it, even if it’s not…well, it’s like the ring was meant for Rey.

He tucks it away in his office, hidden in the back of a drawer, although he pulls it out and just stares at it, lets himself imagine it on her hand at least once each day.

It’s really only a matter of time before she catches him at it, before she gasps and cries, and ventures a breathy, “Is that for me?”

He gapes and stutters and stumbles over nonsense words and she catches his hand and looks him in the eye and says, “Marry me, Ben,” and he just…nods, eventually uttering a choked _okay_ and she LAUGHS and kisses him.

The dogs aren’t allowed in the bedroom that night.

Or the next.

It’s quiet, small. They wait until their nieces and nephew can be in the wedding, Rose carrying her daughter, Kaydel holding her little girl by the hand as she toddles down the aisle, and her son following with Jannah, solemn and serious at almost six.

He looks around at them, at the smiles and shining eyes and it’s _family_ , his family.

They get together often, still mostly piled on the sofa although they don’t all quite fit now, adults and kids and dogs, watching cartoons and eating pizza and laughing.

Ben is happy.

His girls are all happy.

His nieces and nephew and any other children to come will know they’re loved. It will be normal.

He likes the idea, likes their normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a part of me that wants to rewrite a soft, poly version with all four of them romantically involved. Someone please stop me?


End file.
